Roll Me to the Sea

Now that I have some wheels, I went out to greet the sea. I followed the seashore to roads end.

The sign was where the road ended. A promise of things to come.

These are paua shells.

This is Max, my friends' dog. We had a great time exploring together around Eastbourne. The rocks held many secrets.

Wow! The colors are much more vivid than these pictures show. The rocks have many different shades themselves and then there's the amazing blue of  the little clams. But, I never expected to find beautiful flowers on the beach.

Flower Power!

 There was even sculpture from nature......

and from man......

I love architecture!

Made it back to the house safe and sound with the Paua shells and sponges....and Max. 

Just to give you a little size perspective.

Having more confidence in my driving ability, I headed to Plimmerton, which is about twice the distance from the house as Eastbourne. I only got lost once. After driving around in circles, I saw a sign for Kmart. I couldn't believe it, so I pulled in. Turned out to be a parking garage for a mall. I did find the Kmart, which is even less impressive here. What was impressive was finding some freshly juiced carrot and ginger, yummy! Ahhh, there's my mind clear.  Now the signs pointing the way were much more obvious. Good thing I didn't bring Max. My feet were happy to see the beach here was sand instead of peebles.

Though there were some stones, I could walk on the much gentler, and much appreciated sand. I walked every bit of shore in this picture. Only having to give way to the sea gulls.

There were only a few people, but I did get to sit on a bench and have a nice chat with a couple who told me about a saying "stoke on a stone" (or something close to that) when I asked about these birds.

 This is a Marae, which is a Maroi sacred meeting place, that backed up to the beach.

 Be not afraid of greatness

Full o' the milk of human kindness

Hmmmm.....yeah, I'm still trying to put that together. Maybe it's just two separate quotes??? Well, I am here to learn, and I've got plenty to learn.

The next day, I was at my flax weaving class, which I'd signed up for last month. This is a women's only space that gives support as well as safety. Here's a picture of all our end products. Mine is the unadorned one in the front. I think they all turned out terrific. They will loose the green and turn more yellow as the flax dries.

The flax leaves were about 5 ft long and we had to rip the middle rib and edges off and pull them over the dull side of a knife to soften them up in preparation for weaving. We all had a great time in this loving environment.

I really appreciate you all. I have found that, no matter the miles apart, I am still very connected, through my heart and this blog, to you all. Until next time, I Love You All Soooo Much!

Zealandia

This wonderful place is 225 hectare (560 acres) where all animals and plants that are not native to New Zealand have been removed. Just through the entrance, pictured above, they have a terrific exhibition. Outside, there are specially designed fences around the perimeter, but no bars between you and the birds and other wild life.

Did you see the movie Up? Well, guess what, I found Kevin!

This is actually a very large, flightless bird called a Moa. In the movie, it appears they gave Kevin the coloring of this bird:

This is a Takahe. Another flightless bird, but much smaller. Beautiful blues, greens and purple. I made friends with this KaKa and talked him into posing for me.

A native parrot that, of course, has a very strong beck.

Then there's this guy.

The Tuatara. Though he looks like a lizard, he is actually of the Rhynchocephalia order (no that is not a religion....lol). They were around with the dinosaurs.

There are special nurseries for their babies because they will eat their young. How have they survived all this time?

And, yes, they have beautiful ferns.

Amazing suspension bridge.

From which, I was able to see the true majesty of this tree.

When I was standing on this bridge I thought, WOW, it's like Jurassic Park without fearing for my life. Just pure splendour.

I took the train into Wellington from Waterloo, the suburb where my friends live, and then Mike took me the rest of the way to Zealandia. A BIG THANKS for all my friends have done for me! The train was rocking from side to side, especially the older one that took me back to Waterloo station. It was helping work out some of the muscle soreness from tramping so much that day. It made me laugh out loud and probably made the others on the train think I was mental. They should only be as easily amused. Life is much more fun that way. Here is a picture of the beautiful shoreline from the train.

Yes, that is the train track at the bottom of the picture. The train is that close to the shore!

I recently purchased a car with a lot of help from my friends.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/toyota/corolla/auction-489864562.htmI take possession of the car tomorrow evening. So far, I have been practicing traffic rules on a simulator online that Mike found for me. I'll do some hands on practicing close to home and then hit the open road. Can't wait to take you guys along with me.

A Little Taste of Home

My friends, Mike and Leilani, took me out to dinner thinking I might be missing home since it was July 4th and I'm used to cook outs and fireworks. They found a great place to give me the taste of home.

This was the sign out on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.  It's name is The Lone Star.

They played country and western music. Close but definitely Kiwi. It gave me a good laugh.
http://www.lonestar.co.nz/
Fabulous desserts!

 My friends shared the Molten Chocolate Cake.

My first Pavlova was delicious! Perfectly sweet and creamy with the bitterness of the raspberry and passion fruit.

Flowery Thoughts and then....

This bush looks like daisies, but it's just leaves not flowers.

These buds are bigger than my fist and bloom into these amazing flowers.

These little ones grow into these tree looking ones.

Yeah, the short round succulents grow into the trees.....no way.....yes way.

And these bud feels like bird feathers.

And bloom into these beautiful yellow flowers.

All this was on the side of the road. Like they put something pretty for people to see as they drive by instead of looking at the car park on the other side. Yep, this garden was just between the road and a parking lot. Really nice. I do find myself singing in my head, "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot."


Last night's widely-felt magnitude-7.0 earthquake was the largest in the area for up to 120 years.


Thank goodness there was very little damage in Opunake and none where I am, Wellington, which is 107 miles away. We just had a good shake that felt kind of like a heavy train going by close to the house. Wow! I've experienced my first earthquake.


Coming soon.....Seal Safari Tour, Zealandia Exhibition & Sanctuary Valley and Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre. My friends have found some great deals on grabone.com.

Also, they're taking me to see a car Saturday, so maybe I'll be taking to the road. I am so ready to drive again. I've been paying close attention while in the backseat or on the bus. I'm sure I can remember to stay to the left, give way, instead of yield and, when in a car park, look for the way out, instead of the exit.


Well, ta for now and thanks again for coming along with me.